If I Die Young
by yo-digitty-yo-yo
Summary: Swedish jock Eric moves to Louisiana and falls for a bubbly Sookie in his senior year at Bon Temps High… but Sookie is hiding a fatal secret.  AU/AH
1. Chapter 1

**If I Die Young **

**Summary:** Swedish jock Eric moves to Louisiana and falls for a bubbly Sookie in his senior year at Bon Temps High… but Sookie is hiding a fatal secret. AU/AH

**A/N:** A short fic based on the song by The Band Perry: http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=7NJqUN9TClM

I know I said I wouldn't post anything new until after FD or TM were complete, but this wouldn't leave me alone and is 95% written. The primary version of this was a very lengthy oneshot beta'd by min guidanna **stephie8869**. I decided to break it up into three, maybe four chapters. I can't count how many things I messed with, so all mistakes are my fault.

As always, Eric and Sookie et all belong to CH! *hands over pristine waffle iron in penance* If you know me, you also know I can't resist an HEA… in whatever form.

**Chapter 1**

"_**If I die young bury me in satin,**_

_**Lay me down on a bed of roses,**_

_**Sink me in the river at dawn,**_

_**Send me away with the words of a love song."**_

**Sookie's POV:**

"It's ok, darlin'. It's just a little thing."

Gran held my hand tightly, doing her best to infuse me with her strength as I lay on my side, staring blankly at the grey walls of the small, acrid, room. She knew how much I hated needles, in every shape and form. I didn't even enjoy knitting and loathed sewing, because despite her constant encouragement, I couldn't focus long enough on a pattern to make anything look right… not with all the images of how I could poke out my eyes running through my brain.

I knew she was lying, anyway. Gran had always been a terrible liar, and if the shock in her eyes at whatever was behind my back wasn't proof enough that this was no "little thing", the reflection of the doctor looming over me with something that resembled a calking gun I could see in the window was a dead giveaway.

"Alright, Miss Stackhouse. Just three little pokes and we'll be all done."

There was that "little" word again. Did they all feel the need to lie to me? Regardless, Doctor Compton's voice was deep and calming, as though he did this every day. Truthfully, he probably did… but for me it was a first. I focused as best as I could on a pair of brightly colored birds perched on a thin branch just outside the window. They hopped back and forth on the bare branch and chirped as though they were fighting, but to me they looked playful. One had a beautiful shiny turquoise head, and the other a bright red chest. During their lover's spat (or so I imagined), their tiny yellow beaks pecked together a time or two, and suddenly the game was over. The pair of birds flew off into cloudless, sunny summer sky side by side.

The display reminded me of a line in Office Space, where the sad-sack employee with bottle glasses complains about having to move his desk: "_…__They've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much…"_

"OW!" Despite the local anesthesia, the first plunge of the needle sank into my hip just as I was about to giggle at my memory of Milton Waddams. Gran cringed at my undoubtedly painful expression, and held my hand like a vise.

The doctor behind my embarrassingly exposed bottom had a nurse standing by to rub the spot with some astringent, stinging something-or-rather.

"Alright there, Miss Stackhouse?" Doctor Compton asked solicitously.

I gritted my teeth and nodded. I would not be a coward about this. Stackhouses were made of sterner stuff. "Yes", I said quickly lest I give myself away. "Go on."

I managed not to even flinch as the second jab into my hip bone hit home. Despite the numbing medicine, it burned and ached liked the seventh layer of hell… but I kept my mouth firmly shut. My Gran looked to be in more pain than I, and I couldn't let that happen. By the time the third huge needle plunged into my marrow I felt like fainting, but instead just wished for more birds to look at. Or maybe even a Swingline stapler.

Little tears trickled from my Gran's eyes, and I knew I had failed in saving her from my ordeal… and I hated my weakness all the more.

**3 Months Later**

"SOOKIE!" Gran called loudly and cheerily from the kitchen. "Get up miss lazy, you and I have things to do today!"

I mumbled and rolled over, too comfortable underneath the toasty down comforter and weary to move. It was easy to tell by the angle of the sun filtering through my handmade lace curtains that it was late in the morning, if not noon. Gran had been too kind lately, letting me sleep for 12 or 15 hours at a time without interruption. Every single day I was disappointed with myself for letting yet another morning slip away, but she insisted that I needed the rest.

Try as I might, it was beyond difficult to leave the warm cocoon of my fluffy bed. My very bones felt as heavy as lead bars, and my skin felt like ice. Normally I'd soak in a hot bath for thirty or so minutes before starting my day, but as I looked at my little antique crystal clock on the night table I knew that I wouldn't have that luxury today.

12:14 pm. Lordy! I had gone to sleep at 8:00 pm last night! I felt like such a sloth and hated myself for wasting my life asleep.

"Sookie?" Gran's light footsteps were echoing on the creaky old staircase, and I didn't want her to overexert herself, so I shouted as loudly as possible. "Coming Gran!" Even at full volume I sounded like a hoarse mouse, but she heard me.

"OK dear", Gran called. "There's fresh coffee and bacon."

"Thanks, be there in a few!" I yelled again at low volume, satisfied when I heard her steps travel slowly back down the staircase.

Ample time or not, I was so cold that I was shivering, so I slipped into the shower for just enough time to let the hot water warm my bones. A chilly bottle of water was sitting on the counter which I used to guzzle down a slew of medications before dressing in my favorite sweater and jeans, both of which hung off me like tents. After a light dusting of makeup I finally made my way through a swamp of dizziness downstairs, lured unerringly by the promise of coffee and bacon.

When I shuffled in, the kitchen was stuffed full of delectable food laid out on every surface. Trays of cakes and pies, cupcakes and croissants, casseroles and soups and fried chicken adorned every inch of the worn countertops. Tasty as they were, as I knew from long experience of Gran's fabulous cooking, the combined scents swirling through the kitchen nearly made me retch.

I held my tummy and staggered to the table as normally as possible. "There you are dear! Why, don't you look beautiful today?" Gran set a steaming plate of soft boiled eggs, bacon and toast on the only slip of available table-space and brought me a cup of coffee.

"Thanks Gran." I smiled tiredly and set about shoveling as much food in my mouth as I could before the usual nausea really set in. It pleased me that I got down an egg and a half, a few bites of toast, and a strip of bacon before I felt ill. Gran seemed to think it was as much of a victory as I did. She took my plate with a buoyant smile.

"Sookie, you ate so much! You must be feeling well today." She bustled around the kitchen as she praised my meager appetite, pulling yet more trays of cookies and pies from the oven.

"Yeah, I feel fine", I lied, hiding the inevitable gagging noise by taking a sip of coffee.

"I'm glad, darling. You need more meat on your bones, ya' know." Yes, I knew. In the past three months I had lost over thirty pounds, and I certainly wasn't on a diet. That thirty was in addition to the twenty missing pounds that lead to my doctor's initial concern. While I was glad to be losing weight rather than gaining it, going from a size 10 to a size 4 in four months wasn't natural. Every single stitch of clothing I owned hung off of me, even though I'd now resorted to wearing items I purchased in middle school. We didn't have the resources to buy me new clothes, and as I couldn't work I just constantly looked… sick.

I covered up the purple shadows below my eyes with makeup, used products on my hair to make it bouncy and golden instead of straw-like and lank. Eye drops and teeth whiteners and tanning lotions… all just to look normal for my last year of high school. It was tougher to conceal the random black and blue bruises peppered across my skin, but I seemed to be pulling it off.

"Sookie, can you help me with the muffins for the pot luck?"

Oh, right. The potluck. That explains the multitude of food. Suddenly, the amount of smells were too much and my stomach revolted. The blasted thing turned on me like a gastric Machiavelli. "Sure Gran", I said as calmly as possible while I jogged toward the staircase. "Sorry, just forgot something in my room. I'll be back in a jiffy!"

I somehow managed to latch the bathroom door and heave into the toilet in one rather elegant arc of movement. Every bit of food I'd consumed came up, and I prayed to God that Gran couldn't hear my violent vomiting. Coughing as quietly as possible, I cleaned off my face, brushed my teeth, and fixed my makeup before returning to the kitchen. My smile must have been off, because Gran didn't smile back. She simply stared at me like I was on death's doorstep, her oven mitts suspended in midair.

The door creaked, letting in a sliver of sunshine that made my eyes cringe. Jason walked in through the back door and took one look at me. "Holy hell, Sook! Did you see a ghost?"

I caught my reflection in the shiny surface of the range hood. Despite my best efforts, I was as white as a sheet and sweating buckets. Before I knew another thing, my eyes rolled up into nothingness and I crumpled to the kitchen floor like my body was melting jelly in a furnace.

When I awoke, I was again in a horrible flowered gown and ensconced in a ghastly hospital bed at Shreveport Community Hospital. Gran and Jason were looking down at me with troubled and watery eyes, each grasping one of my hands and leaning over me.

"Oh, come on ya'll. I'm not dyin' today, so don't fret so dang much!" I meant it to come out snarky and sassy, but my words were a barely a stern, raspy whisper in the grim, beige room. Jason seemed to appreciate my humor and slapped me gently on the shoulder.

""Course you're not, sis! You just passed out. It's a normal woman's reaction when I show up."

I coughed and rolled my eyes. "Ew! You're my brother, Jas. Not to mention the fact that you're a damn idiot!" Idiot or not, he made me laugh.

"I'll have you know that I am the star quarterback, missy!"

"Yeah, yeah, I've seen the posters. But do you think you can hold on to it?" I taunted knowingly.

"What the hell you talkin' 'bout Sook?"

Gran, who had kept a tight hold on my hand this whole time, swatted Jason but good. "Language, mister!"

"Yes, ma'am." Jason rubbed his arm absently while reforming his inquiry. "So… erm, what are you talking about, Sookie?" Gram nodded her approval, which I found infinitely hilarious.

"Haven't you seen the new guy? Big kid from Sweden? He moved in the other week with his mom, and Meels and Tara told me he's been quite good at touch this summer as QB."

I knew Jas had been to the games while I was either resting or in treatment, and what I knew of the new guy was based off of hearsay. Bringing the new kid up was a part of my endless attempt to annoy my brother, and I'd just dared him to deny the fact that he could potentially be challenged for QB #1.

My brother puffed up like a peacock, skittish as a wild hare. "Yeah, I've seen him. His name is Eric, and he isn't as good as me by a mile!"

"Uh huh. Sure, Jas." I gave him a sweet smile to let him know that it was all in fun, just as a nurse injected my IV with something new. Floating on a cloud of happiness and feeling absolutely no pain, I kissed Gran's weathered hand, waved at Jason, and drifted away into nothingness.

**2 Days Later**

When I groggily cracked my eyes open, my retinas were assaulted by piercing, bright sunlight.

"Ready to go home, darling?" Gran looked a bit ragged, and I knew that she had been at my bedside for however long I'd been in it.

"The potluck?" My voice sounded like gravel drawn across a harp.

"Mrs. Fortenberry took care of it. We weren't missed. I hear it was lovely."

I yawned, bones aching. "That's good, Gran. I'm so sorry you missed it."

She grabbed my hand, gently. "Not at all, darling. I'd skip a thousand of those things for you. In fact, you gave me a good excuse to not talk to the other old biddies. I'm too young at heart for such company."

I giggled, and it felt so lovely to laugh, even if my throat felt like the Sahara. "I would love to go home, Gran. Is it ok if I have a glass of water and some clothes first?" Gran shot out of her teal plastic chair and bustled around like her butt was on fire.

"Don't stress, Gran." My hand flailed uselessly, almost without my conscious permission.

"Not at all darling!" She huffed a bit as she set a little duffle bag in the en suite bathroom, summoning an orderly to help me up and dress. I was too tired to protest about any of it.

**One Month Later**

"Are you sure, Sookie? You don't have to go." Gran asked solicitously as she set a steaming bowl of unflavored oatmeal before me on the table.

"Yes, of course! I'm perfectly fine, Gran." The medications had progressed well and I was less weary. The nausea was still rampant, but I could manage very bland things in adequate quantities. I was still a size four at the beginning of my senior year at Bon Temps High, but my waif-like physique only garnered compliments. I can only assume it was because of my religious tanning and conditioning regimen, because without it I appeared quite ill.

I drove my old yellow Nova to school on September 6th, feeling good and eager to start my senior year at Bon Temps High. Jason drove separately in his new black truck, emblazoned with pink and blue flames. He strutted onto campus like he owned the place, and I didn't blame him one bit.

Parking my ratty car quite a ways away from my brother's eye-catching truck, I took a minute to look at myself in the rearview mirror. I'd taken a lot of care this morning. I didn't want to just not look sick, I wanted to look _hot. _I surveyed myself carefully. Shiny blonde hair was perfectly curled in gentle spirals, with strategic tendrils pulled back with perfectly matched pins. Only a faint shadow of purple lingered below my eyes, which was quickly erased with a thin concealer stick.

Tugging my tight beige sweater into place, I pulled my Coach book bag (an extravagant present from Gran) out of my little car and locked it… ready to face the world… or, rather, high school.

**Eric's POV:**

I didn't belong here. English I understood very well, but these kids spoke in a dialect I didn't fully get. True, I had won myself a brief reputation by winning every sport's game this summer, but I wasn't totally accepted. Perhaps it was because I was new to this area, or because I am much bigger than them all, I am unsure. Are all Americans so short? I do not know.

What I do know is that I was brought to Louisiana by min mama after papa's death, and now I am forced to spend my last year of "high school" in a small, rather damp town.

The first day of school, I drove in with min corvette, which was a pretty red car. Min vackra mama had given it to me as a birthday present, and I loved the grumbling purr of the engine. I parked carefully in the gravel lot of the school, not wanting to endanger the pristine red paint, when I noticed the stares of dozens upon my vehicle.

It took but a moment's glance around the lot to realize that mine was the nicest car there. It took only a second more for me to ignore the gawkers and spot a beautiful young woman, struggling to get her bag out of a yellow, antique hunk of groaning metal.

A small crowd had amassed around my corvette when I jumped out, and I spared a few offhand comments as I made my way through. "Yes, she's a 68", "Yes, she's been restored perfectly", "Yes, she's an original redhead."

I continued shoving my way through the crowd in the lot until I was free to jog towards the blonde beauty.

A bit breathless, I said to her back: "Hej, jag är Eric Northman. Tala om för mig ditt namn?"

The beatiful girl turned. Her stunning face looked utterly confused, but kind. "I'm sorry, what?"

Oh hell! This is America! I hurried to fix my mistake. "Ah, my name is Eric. Please, tell me yours?"

Beautiful girl smiled at me, and her face miraculously made the sun shine brighter. "Nice to meetcha', Eric. I'm Sookie." A small, delicate looking hand reached out to shake mine. The action was a bit unusual, but the girl's – _Sookie's_ – smile made the formality so endearing. I was thrilled when she kept hold of my hand and bounced with a musical giggle.

"Oh! Now where are my manners? Gran would tan my hide! Welcome to Bon Temps, Eric. I've heard about ya'! Can I show you to your first class? Do you have a schedule yet?" She was a bouyant picture of a southern belle, and for a second I couldn't speak.

It was an effort to swallow, with her so near. "Thank you, Sookie. I haven't gotten my schedule yet. Could you direct me to the office building?" I hoped that wasn't too formal sounding. The pretty pink bow of her lush and soft-looking lips were making the english hard for me... along with other things.

"Of course!" She nearly bubbled. "But oh, we have to hurry if we're going to make it there and to class before the bell!" Her little hand yanked my big body across the parking lot at a jog. A flying mantle of blonde curls whipped around and across her face as the slip of a girl led me into the unknown. I used the opportunity of her turned back to adjust the growing situation in my jeans.

"You ok back there, Eric?" The sun sparkled in her hair, and her earnest, enchanting blue eyes glowed like they were the windows to Vahalla. Her little eyelet lace skirt fluttered around a pair of shapely, tanned legs. I was mesmerized.

"Jag alskare dig", I whispered, still jogging behind her and staring.

"What?" She asked on a laugh as we slowed near a single story brick building.

"Ah, nothing. Is this it?" I recovered as best as possible from accidentally telling a complete stranger that I loved her and walked toward the glass door. It actually hurt my chest a bit when she finally let go of my hand. Sookie looked a little sad about it, too.

"Yep, that's it. Ask for Mrs. Thorton. She's a bit of a drunk, but she's nicer than Mrs. Fortenberry and won't give you any shit. I think Mrs. Fortenberry is a tad bitter towards good looking men."

Sookie slapped her hand over her mouth and turned a lovely shade of red. I couldn't help but smile widely and tease her, just a little. "You think I'm a good looking man?"

"Oh shut it, you! You know you are, now shoo!" Sookie waved her little hands at me as if to usher me into the office. I grinned at her and took a few steps forward.

"Hey", she called, "do you want me to wait? The school isn't big and they should give you a map, but I'll stay if you'd like..."

The girl was simply too wonderful and selfless, but I didn't want her to be late on my account. "That's ok, Sookie, I will find my place. Thank you for all you have done for me." I tried to pour my sincerity into that statement, but it still sounded too formal to my ears. Judging by the slight fall in Sookie's expression, she thought so as well. Damn my lack of American know-how!

"Alrighty then." She tucked a wayward lock nervously behind her ear, and I wanted nothing more than to rush over and kiss her, but I stayed put. As Sookie turned her dainty shoulders away, she seemed to take a breath and turn back. "If you want, you can sit with me at lunch? I eat with my friends at that wall over there." She pointed a finger towards a worn-looking brick planter at the edge of the large square of grass in the very heart of the school grounds.

How could I not accept any request of an angel? "I'll be there."

Her ethereal face brightened, and she was back to bubbling. "Great! See you at at lunch then. Laters!" Sookie waved and I watched her skirt bounce down the hallway.

**Sookie's POV:**

I leaned against the half-wall where I lived in BTH, straightening my clingy sweater and tugging at my floral, flouncy skirt. I smoothed my hair to make sure my curls were still intact as sneakily as I could. My ex Alcide eyes almost burned a hole in my clevage, so I made an effort to close the gasping buttons of my straining sweater while still searching the quad for Eric.

The minutes stretched on like hours while I nibbled on a plain bagel slathered with a packet of cream cheese. I had indicated my lunch-spot clearly, hadn't I? Perhaps I hadn't... My musings were brought short when Alcide's red football jersey, and his wide chest, impared my vision and invaded my personal space.

Alcide was Jason's preferred running back, and he certainly did a good job of it.

"Hi there, beautiful." He nearly leered at me.

"Hello, Alc", I said, entirely distraced as I scanned the quad.

The obviousness of my wandering gaze was made clear when Alcide leaned down to whisper in my ear: "Whatever you're looking for Sook, you'll find it right here."

The boy was hansome and huge, bulging with muscle and finesse, but I knew trouble when I saw it. I glanced across the vast square of grass that was the quad at the practicing horde of uppity cheerleaders, led by a scowling Debbie Pelt. Her expression was venomuus, full of hate, and directed at yours truly. I decided right then and there that I didn't want anything do to with either of them.

A wave of nasuea attacked me just then. The bland bagel and cream cheese Gran had packed for my lunch suddently turned on me. I could litterally feel my face turning green, but I gathered my wits quickly, along with my bag.

"I appreciate it, Alcide, but I'm just fine." I smiled politely and excused myself to the ladies room... just in time to evacuate my stomach in in a violent fashion that did not have anything to do with my turbulent emotions.

I retched and hacked, spewing my latest meal into a rather unsavory porcelin bowl. Chewed and partially digested hunks of bagel were swirling down the drain when I felt a hand lightly stroking my back.

"Either you need a new doctor or a good damn fuck." The husky female voice was unfamiliar, but thin, pale fingers provided me with a wad of the scrathy brown towels provided in the school bathroom. I cleaned myself as best as I could.

"Have some water." The serious voice said, handing me a cold bottle of Figi. Fancy.

"Thanks", I muttered and chugged. After I was done, I raised myself a bit from the disgusting highschool-bathroom floor to see a beautiful wave of blond hair. I was too sick to see my rescuer's face, but I managed to choke:

"What's your name?"

"Pam."

"Pam who?"

"Just Pam."

Okie dokie then...

"You all right, Blondie?"

I staggered a bit to get up. "Yes. Thank you, *Just* Pam."

Before I could turn and look at the true identity of my blond rescuer, I heard the quick staccato of high heels... and she was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sookie's POV:**

When I returned to the wall, Eric was arguing with Alcide.

"Why are YOU here!" Alcide cried, pushing Eric's chest. The pressure didn't move the taller man, and he stood stoicly, like a stone sentinal.

Eric made a low sound that was almost a growl. He towered above the football RB like the Statue of Liberty does a normal human. Alcide made a disgusted face and threw a punch...

Eric caught the fist easily, and despite the fact that it had been aimed at his face, he let it go with a grin and looked over at me.

"Can I pick you up in the morning? Take you to school, perhaps?"

I was so nervous. I really, REALLY like Eric, but he couldn't come to my home! For one, my driveway had an ambulence waiting in it more often than not, and for two my bedroom was full of ghastly equiptment. I just wanted... for once... to not have someone pity me.

"Yes." Eric released Alcide, and we and we all went on our way.

**Eric's POV:**

I couldn't believe my luck! Sookie had finally agreed to hang out with me outside of school! Just thinking of it set my heart racing as I drove home from BTHS like a bat out of hell. My mind was reeling. _Where can I take her? What would be perfect?_ For her, I wished I could fly her to Paris for a picnic beside the Eiffel Tower. PICNIC! That was a great idea! Perhaps I couldn't take her to Paris, but I COULD take her somewhere beautiful.

My tires screeched to a halt, spinning up the neat gravel of our driveway as the 'vette came to a jarring stop. I managed to shut off the engine and haul the keys out of the dash before bounding up the porch steps and bursting through the front door, startling mama.

"Eric! What -?"

"MOM!" I yelled frantically, skidding into the kitchen. "I need things for a date, fast!"

Mama smiled and lowered the hand she had covered her heart with when I frightened her. "Mitt hjärta, Eric! Du skrämde nästan ihjäl mig!"

_(My heart, Eric! You almost scared me to death!)_

"Sorry, mama! But I need – "

She laughed, her waves of platinum blonde hair swinging. "Things for a date, son?"

"Yes! It's not funny, mama! I have to hurry!"

"Alright, alright mit barn. What is the date?"

Sweaty and nearly breathless from football practice, but idyllic, I gasped "It's with the most beautiful girl in existence!"

"Ah. So Sookie finally said yes?"

"Yes yes yes she did! What do I do?" I was torn between running up the stairs to shower and running through the kitchen to make food.

"Well first of all you need to shower, Eric. I can smell you from here. Secondly, what did you have in mind?"

"I thought a picnic by the lake? Is that good enough?"

"I think it's perfect. How long do we have?"

"She has to be home by 9, so I suggested six o'clock. Is that enough time?"

"Dearest, it's only 3:30! Yes, that will be plenty of time. How about you go up and shower while I make a basket of food?"

Breathing a small sigh of relief, I said, "Thanks, mama!" I turned to sprint up the stairs, but whirled back to mention something important.

"OH mama! She can't eat anything that has too much spice to it. Sookie gets nauseas if she has anything that isn't pretty bland."

Mama's eyebrows rose a tiny bit, furrowing her delicate brow. "Sure, dear. Would turkey sandwiches with cheese be fine?"

"That'd be perfect! It's what she has almost everyday, with lots of mustard. Oh, and if we have any fresh fruit that would be great!" I was too busy rushing up the stairs to more than barely percieve my mother's frown. It was probably a trick of the light, anyway.

**Aude's POV:**

Eric bounded up the stairs to shower as I fixed the food for his date. While I was bursting with happiness that my son finally landed an evening with the American girl he's been blabbering about since the first day of lessons, I had my trepiditions. Certainly not about the girl; if my son fancied her than I am sure that she is a lovely and worthy young lady... no, I was concerned about the "bland food" she required.

Eric hadn't been exactly young when his father passed away, but Johanna certainly was. For that reason, I kept Anders' unsual eating habits from them. In an effort to maintain the tradition of a casual family dinner I worked triple time, asking both children what they would like for dinner and cook them each seperate meals so they wouldn't realize that their father had to eat so differently. It became the norm to eat seperate things at the same table, and the children never thought it strange when they had their own feasts, and their father ate only a plain bowl of rice, or a slab of cheese drizzled with mustard. The routine was tiring for me, but I thought it was worth it in the end. Anders didn't want our children to worry about him, and neither did I... but I knew better than most what such a bland and scarce diet could allude to.

I worried for my son's heart as I made a meal fit for my dear Anders and placed everything gently in a basket with a bottle of wine, glasses, and set the basket on top of a thickly woven picnic blanket. I shoved a small plastic bottle of mustard in the basket as an after thought.

"Eric!" I called up the stairs. "Dear, it is almost 5:30! What is keeping you, mit barn?" A door slamming open and the heavy footfalls of a very big boy running upstairs echoed through the house. My son jumped down the entirety of the staircase in one big leap, and slid to a stop on the lowest landing. He was breathing hard, but min Eric looked _wonderful!_

"Son! Are you finally wearing the shirt I got you in Stockholm?" It was a light blue designer silk blend button up that perfectly complemented his eyes. I'd spent quite a few Euros on it, but I had never seen him so much as remove it from the hanger.

Eric was bashful. "Yeah, mama. Does it look ok?" His long fingers fidgeted with the starched collar and cuffs.

"Ja, min son! Hold on, let me fix your cuffs. It's to be a picnic, not a formal ocassion." I carefully folded up the sleeves and pushed the fine fabric up his forearms.

"Thanks, mama" he said, looking at his arms. "I can never do that right."

"Alright, spin."

"What?"

"Turn around! I can't send my only son out on a date without making sure his clothes fit right!" Eric huffed, but turned stiffly around in a circle like a giant, annoyed zombie. "Your jeans are nice, but too low, Eric." I made a move to pull them up from where they were hanging low on his hips, but he swatted my hands away.

"Mom! My jeans are fine!" My nearly adult son flushed a tiny bit and I realized I had crossed some sort of teenage boy line.

"Ok, yes they're fine. OH!" I had a sudden thought and dashed up the staircase to grab something from my bathroom, something I had purchased for just such an occasion. I thanked Freyja that Johanna was spending the evening at her new friend's house so I wouldn't have to explain any of this to her.

Eric was checking through the picnic basket when I came back down the stairs, smiling at the little bottle of mustard I'd included. "Thanks mom, I appreciate – what is this?"

I pressed the thick wad of interconnected foil packets into his hand before he could deny the, um, gift. My son looked wide-eyed at his hand and choked. "Ah! I, er, MOM! It's our first date!"

"Yes, well I know that things are different now then they used to be in our day, and – "

"Mom!"

"- I just wanted to make sure that – "

"MOM!"

"-You were safe."

Eric looked down at the packets in his hand. Against, or due to, my better judgement, I'd given him twelve.

"Are these... magnums?" My son looked absolutely shocked, but also pleased. OH, men. They never change...

"Well, your father was very well endowed and I assumed –"

"LALALALALALALALALALALALAAA!" Like a giant-sized child, Eric pressed his hands to his ears in an effort to drown me out. As a mother, it was hilarious! I should go on about how much I enjoyed Anders' huge... ahem. Honestly, it was almost as though all children thought they were created in test tubes.

It didn't slip past my notice that my son slipped the wad of magnum condoms in his back pocket. I wasn't trying to embarass him further, but I let him know that it didn't look exactly gentlemanly to have a dozen rubbers hanging out of his pants on the first date. He flushed, agreed, and dashed outside to stash them in the glovebox of his muscle car. By the time he got back, it was 5:50pm and I was mussing with his long hair.

"Don't you have to go pick her up? You should have left already!" I fretted.

"No, mama. Sookie insisted upon coming here so she could meet you." That was a tad odd, but perhaps she had her reasons.

**Sookie's POV:**

Gran helped me into the most beautiful dress . A blue lace tea party number she had worn in her youth fit me like an elegant glove. With it's delicate cap sleeves and full, pleated skirt, the dress was as timeless as it was lovely. I hadn't known before that Gran had once been a size four, but I was infinitely grateful for that fact. White patent pumps were the perfect accent. The shiny, sexy shoes were a luxury I had indulged in the previous summer. I took care to perfectly curl my hair and use makeup to cover the dark circles under my eyes. Gran fastened a small silver heart locket around my neck before brushing a hint of blush on my pale cheeks, and then declared me ready for my first date.

**Gran's POV:**

I helped my lovely Sookie into the low car and drove, letting her rest a bit on the way. It wasn't far but it always helped if she could close her eyes for a few moments. The directions were clear, and I shook her shoulder gently as we pulled up to a beautiful plantation home.

"Sweetheart! Look, it's lovely!" It truly was. Overhanging trees boarded the lane to the white plantation house, the perfect balance of shade and golden beams of late afternoon sunshine. The Northman's house looked like a miniture version of Tara.

Sookie opened her eyes and smiled groggily. "Is it beautiful. I just knew he'd live somewhere like this." She made to close her eyes again as I stopped the small car. "Don't sleep, Sookie! Remember? Eric is waiting for you."

"Eric?" My grandaughter was slumped against the car window like a beautiful rag doll. Her slow, slight, and bowed smile was the expression of someone in a fabulous dream.

I shook her shoulder. "Yes, Eric, darlin'. The guy you've been prattlin' along about for months? He's waiting right in there for you, just for you."

"For me?" Sookie yawned.

Oh Lordy. I shouldn't have let her take her medications so late in the day! This was all my fault. I'd have to fix it. "Yes, Sookie. For you. Here, have some coffee darlin'." I pressed the travel mug in her hand. Luckily I'd had enough sense to bring some along with us. After a few sips she perked up.

"Oh my GOODNESS! MY DATE!" My grandaughter perked up and I breathed a sigh of relief when she finally seemed to snap out of it.

"Yes, dear. Your date! Eric is right in there; you just have to ring the doorbell." Sookie broke out in a grin. "Thanks Gran." She tried to leap out of the car and stumbled, flopping her tiny butt back down on the seat.

"Just wait darlin', I'll help." I rushed around the front of the car to lift her from the low vehicle, and kept a good firm grip on her waist as we climbed the porch steps. When we got to the top, I made sure Sookie was steady on her feet and looked at her expectantly. She smiled. Her finger reached out and pressed the doorbell.

**Aude's POV:**

At 6pm on the dot the bell rang, and Eric looked both like he wanted to bolt and like his feet were bolted to the floor. I gave my son the opportunity to dash away if he wished, but he stayed put just behind me. He's a strong man, just as his father was.

I opened the door to find a kind-faced older woman with her hand gently resting on the elbow of the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. Their resemblance was obvious. It was also painfully obvious that the beautiful young girl needed the support of the elderly woman's hand, and not the other way around. My suspicions were confirmed. I knew in that instant the woman my son loved was deathly ill.

"Hello", I greeted as happily as possible. "Please, do come in."

"How de do, Mrs. Northman." Sookie said with a wide smile, reaching out her hand to shake mine. I held her cold palm gently, smiling just the same.

"Welcome, Sookie! I've heard so much about you." I wanted to acknowledge the girl's grandmother, but I wanted more for Sookie to sit down. A small look passed between the elderly woman and I as I led the girl to the nearest seat.

"Mrs. Stackhouse?" I questioned, again with a smile.

"Adele. Adele Stackhouse, Mrs. Northman."

"A pleasure to meet you, Adele. Please call me Aude."

"Thank you for welcoming us into your home Aude."

"Of course. Would either of you like any refreshment?"

"Oh, no thank you! The kids should be on their way."

"Yes, of course. Eric!"

My son appeared around the corner from the kitchen, carrying the basket of goodies, picnic blanket, and a bundle of freshly picked wildflowers from the yard.

We had the pleasure of seeing Sookie's eyes light up, and she jumped out of her chair with astounding energy. She all but dashed towards him, light glowing in her eyes.

"Are those for me?" Sookie asked, fluttering her lashes cutely.

Eric was almost speechless, shoving the flowers at her. "Yes. I picked them myself." Sookie sniffed the wild dasies and giggled. The kids looked at eachother with such fervant admiration that Adele and I were caught up, grinning like outrageously romantic women. They hugged, and it was so sweet. Sookie jumped off the floor holding her makeshift boquet, and Eric swung her around in a circle with a picnic basket in his other hand. When he set her down and it looked like they were about to kiss, I clapped my hands a few times, loudly.

"OK kids! Go have your date already!" Adele laughed and echoed my sentiment. "Eric, Sookie, we expect you to behave responsibly."

"Yes, ma'am." With that they both jogged out of the door and towards my son's car.

"Hold on to her so she doesn't tumble, son!" Adele shouted at the open door. The loud engine roared to life, and they were gone.

Sookie's grandmother and I smiled at eachother for a bit and giggled before I suggested some tea. "That would be wonderful, if it's no trouble Aude."

"Of course not", I replied and bustled around the kitchen. Within minutes both Adele and I had steaming cups and a plate of cookies in front of us at the dining table. We sipped and made small talk while I tried to formulate my dearest concern. Finally, I decided to be blunt.

"So what is it?" It wasn't the most eloquent way of asking, but it needed to be done. Adele understood.

Her suddenly weary blue eyes fell to the table top, as though contemplating the pattern of her tea cup. "Leukemia."

My heart broke for my son, and for the lovely girl he obviously loved. "Is there anything that can be done?"

"No. It was caught too late. My granddaughter has been sick for years, but it was misdiagnosed as an anxiety disorder. Now she just wants to live while she can."

My heart broke yet again. I knew what it was like to lose my loved one to cancer. "What am I supposed to tell my son?"

Adele seemed to understand my mindset but her face grew stern. "You can tell Eric whatever you like, as you are his mother, but I hope that you will let Sookie tell him when she feels the time is right. It's her life that is ending, after all... not any of ours."

"You are right. I am sorry Adele."

"Nothin' to apologize for, dear. Let's just let them have some fun, shall we?" I nodded.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** This is a departure from my usual work, and yeah, it's sad *hands out tissues*. I had no intention of disturbing anyone with this, and I pray for everyone who has cancer or has lost their loved ones to this horrible disease. I don't want to give too much away, but I still think that this story still has an HEA.

Please support cancer research! Maybe one day in the near future this can be like a terrible nightmare that is left in humanity's rear-view-mirror.

I also apologize for not responding to reviews as diligently as usual! I've been in and out of the hospital, and whenever I'm home I'm either sleeping or writing! Mostly sleeping LOL. I figured that more chapters would be better appreciated than review replies :D. I love them SO much though, and thank you, thank you!

To Eileen (ganoo), min trvilling syster Stephie (stephie8869), and my darlin' Rose (dazedrose), I totally flove you wonderful girlies! And, of course, all of my fantabulous readers! Xoxoxo

Sorry for the epically long AN :) *offers CH a slightly dented Cuisinart from 1996*

On with it!

**If I Die Young Ch 3**

"_**There's a boy here in town who says he'll love me forever.**_

_**Who would've thought that forever could be severed**_

_**By the sharp knife of a short life?"**_

**Eric's POV:**

I peeled out of the driveway, shaking with nerves, almost as if I was afraid that she was going to suddenly deny me and hop out of the car. I held the steering wheel tightly to keep my fingers from shaking and focused on the road like my chem final was going to include questions about the varying colors of asphalt.

She was too beautiful – TOO beautiful! The dress Sookie was wearing was like it was made for her. Blue lace and satin and legs… oh Freyja! Her legs. Her face and her hair… the picture when she stepped through the door left me speechless. I thought I was prepared for this, but while min mama was greeting our guests, I suddenly felt unworthy. I looked at the things in my hand in a panic, knowing something was missing. FLOWERS! I dropped everything without a word and rushed into the yard, yanking blossoms from mama's beloved flower bed. Even I was surprised by my quickness, as when I returned they had just finished getting acquainted. Swiftly brushing off a clump of dirt, I picked up the picnic things and came out again.

Sookie looked as much like an angel as ever, her pleated lace skirt spread daintily across our sofa. Damaging mama's flowerbed was more than worth it when I saw her excited expression.

And now we were racing to the Bon Temps Lake, and I prayed that my date idea would keep that look on Sookie's face.

"Eric?" Her voice sounded like a low harp in the small cab of my 'vette. I couldn't look at her, I just couldn't. If I looked she just might be gone.

"Eric?" She repeated and placed a hand on my knee. I swerved in surprise. "Sorry! Sorry!" Sookie said frantically.

Not a dream. Get it together, Northman! "No, it is ok. More than ok." I turned to smile at her in an effort to correct my nervous rudeness. The waning golden rays of the early evening sun backlit her beauty through the car window, and the vision proved to me that she was, indeed, an angel.

"Is something wrong?" Sookie asked me, nervously wringing the hem of her dress.

"No! No, not at all." I struggled to look back at the road.

"Ok. Well, you just looked a bit upset. I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"

I had the urge to slam my head on the dashboard. _IDIOT!_ "Of course not! You're just too beautiful. If I look at you I forget where I am, and I'm supposed to be driving." I smiled at her so she knew it was a sincere compliment. Which it was.

Sookie blushed and lowered her face. "Oh. Thank you. I think you're beautiful too." She bit her lip, and the way her mouth moved was so sexy that I almost swerved again.

Odin himself couldn't have kept the smile off my face while I pulled in to the little patch of gravel that served as parking space for the lake. Pleased that no other cars were there, I helped Sookie out of the car before pulling our picnic things out.

I led her carefully down the trail through the little ring of forest. Red and yellow deciduous trees with leafy and low lying branches turned the late sunlight into a vibrant rainbow. Honey gold peaked through the fat leaves in moving blotches, swaying along with the cool breeze. I gently lifted Sookie over a fallen log, and she weighed as much as a feather.

"Thank you", she smiled.

"Here we are", I gestured to the revealed lake as we emerged from the forest into a lawn of long, green grass. Her breath caught, and I ushered her towards a weeping willow tree just near the bank and spread out our blanket.

The sun was just setting as Sookie finished her sandwich. As expected, she had slathered it in mustard, but did eat the whole thing! I must remember to thank min mama again… and possibly replace her flowers.

**Sookie's POV:**

My first date was everything I had imagined and more. The food was excellent, I didn't throw up, and the boy sitting beside me was so sweet and beyond gorgeous! Tendrils of the willow our picnic spot was nestled under danced slightly in the wind, and the lake was sapphire and calm. The water sparkled with pink and orange.

It was difficult to imagine that Eric would like a girl like me. I glanced at him stealthy as he rolled away to put our trash away and gather something from that excellent picnic basket. His shoulders strained against the lovely blue button up he was wearing, the fine fabric pulled taut across the mesmerizing muscles dancing on his back. His jeans were… whoa. Really quite tight, and they hugged his backside perfectly without being at all emo.

I discovered that I had stared far too long at said backside when Eric's face emerged from the basket with a bottle of wine in hand.

"Sookie? Are you alright?"

I swallowed and shook my head. "Yes, of course! Did you know that's illegal?" I covered up my ogling by pointing out the wine. Eric laughed, and the front view was even better than the back. His pecks strained and shifted under the thin blue shirt, and I had to turn away before I hopped on top of him.

No Sookie! Bad Sookie! I scolded myself like one would an eager puppy.

"Not in Sweden." Eric said confidently as he uncorked the bottle like a pro and poured into two crystal glasses.

My hand shook as I took the glass, more from how his eyes sparkled than from my illness. "But this is America, and we're not allowed to drink until we're twenty one." I took a small sip regardless, and it was truly excellent.

"Then please forgive me for retaining my origins." Eric grinned and clinked his glass to mine. "To you, min vackra."

I didn't know what that meant, but I smiled to beat the band! Eric and I polished off the whole bottle while watching the sun set across the lake. Giggly and dizzier than normal, I finally set my empty glass down in the cool, lush grass beside our blanket. Eric did the same. We'd been having so much fun talking about anything and everything, and though I'd kept my condition under wraps, it was the most honest and fun conversation that I'd ever had.

Feeling floaty and fantastic, I laid back to watch the stars shimmer between the branches of the willow tree. The sun had set and the crickets were chirping. Eric had lit a small lantern and set it on the grass a bit above our blanket so we could still see each other.

I felt him lie down just next to me. He shifted onto his side, propped up on his elbow.

"Did I do well, min vackra?" His voice was a quiet whisper.

I rolled to face him and was struck dumb yet again by his face in the glow of the lantern. It took a few moments, but I finally understood what he meant. "Yes, you certainly did. Tell me, what does that phrase you call me mean?" I brushed his face tentatively with my fingertips.

Eric groaned a bit and nuzzled into my fingers until my palm was fully resting on his cheek. "It means My Beauty." Before I could react at all, Eric rolled across the scratchy, flannel blanket and his lips were on mine.

Warm and delicious, his mouth tasted like wine and something sweet that was simply him. I'd never been kissed before, but it felt instinctual to open my lips when his tongue brushed against them. A shudder rippled through his body, and I realized that my hands were gripping his shoulders tightly when I felt it. I swear I hadn't meant to! But now that I could touch him, my hands roamed over his muscles and waist while he kissed me senseless.

After a few minutes, a crowd of coyotes howled in the distant darkness, and Eric and I broke apart. Breathing hard, he said, "I knew you would be mine."

It was an effort to breathe. "I'm…I'm sorry, what?"

Eric's nimble hand tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, looking quite contrite. "Nothing."

In a flash, Eric was up and reaching down for my hand, easing me gently to my feet. My white stilettos were difficult to balance on in the grass, so I leaned against the willow tree for support while he packed up our picnic.

In the idle moment, I absently scratched "E + S" into the soft bark with my nails. It wouldn't last, God knows, but I wanted to acknowledge the spot in some way.

Eric, with all our stuff in hand, offered me his arm. "Ready to go, min vackra?"

I smiled like a fool and walked away from the tree. Eric's arm, and his lantern, led me back to his lovely corvette, and eventually home.

**2 Months Later**

**Eric's POV:**

We were so close to winning the game that I could taste it. Our team was down by one with five embedded in my helmet, as did his stern play call. The play was risky, a kick-fake-to-hail-mary, and I was arrogant enough to know without a doubt that I could make that pass with pressure.

One play left in the game, I called a huddle.

"We're going for a 24 fake mary. Stackhouse, you got it?"

Our helmets were pressed together in the tight circle, and his face-mask tilted to sneer at me. "Yeah, Northman, I'll ROCK IT!"

I didn't have time for his machismo. The time out clock was running. "Good. I'll give you a deep spiral." Sookie's arrogant brother nooded.

*BREAK*

The guys got into formation, and my sight was limited by my hefty helmet. I looked right to to shout at my TB, to the left to signal a position change to my TE... and I my eyes somehow found a woman in the stands, fainting. Blood was dribbling down her lovely, pale face. Even in the heights of the stands I could see her pain.

I instantly called anothe time out. Coach Bellfluear was jogging out onto the field, but he was too slow to catch me as I ran toward the stands.

"ERIC! YOU'RE KIND OF FUCKING BUSY!" Coach screamed as I sprinted across the field and up the bleachers.

"YES, I AM!" I yelled back, across a stunned crowd of spectators. I didn't care that I was making a scene as I ran toward the girl... the only girl... Sookie.

The crowd in the bleachers seemed to divide like the Red Sea before me, which was good for their health. I'm already a big guy, but wearing huge pads and running like a wreaking ball was very dangerous for anyone who might get in my way. A scream rang out in the stunned stadium from the area where I saw my girlfriend collapse, and a huddle of people surrounded her, blocking Sookie from my view. Desperate, but trying not to injure anyone, I shoved my way into the fray to find Sookie shaking and white, twitching on the bleacher floor, covered in blood. Her eyes were frantic and rolled back into their sockets as she flailed uncontrollably. I didn't know what to do, but one thing was certain: she needed some goddamned room!

I screamed: "BACK UP! BACK THE FUCK UP!" Was that my voice? A growl of desperation and fury echoed through the crowd, and the combination of my size and my apparent ability to roar commands made everyone retreat several steps, crushing back into the wall of other people behind crowding them. I didn't give a fuck if all of them were trampled.

Sookie finally fell limp, and I scopped her up immediately. Blood was coursing from her nose and mouth like little macabre creeks, and I ran with her in my arms through the crush of bodies and down to the field. Gasps came from every corner of the stadium when the bright spotlights hit us, but I didn't care. Luckily, I had the good sense to grab her purse when I scooped Sookie up, and as I ran toward the team's medical room I rooted around in her purse for her cell phone.

Multitasking was obviously my forte when in panic-mode. I kicked open the frosted plate-glass door, waved at the startled Doctor Reynolds, and placed Sookie gently on the nearest examination table while sifting through the phone's contacts. The flamboyant yet efficient doctor shook out of his shock quickly.

"What the fuck happened to her, Northman?" He moved all around her like a whirlwind, checking things and moving equiptment, a blur of white coat and bedazzled yellow headkercief.

I finally found the number I was looking for and dialed. "I don't know! One second she was sitting in the stands, and the next... shit, it looked like a seizure!"

"Sookie?" Her Gran's voice called plesantly from the other end of the line, but I was too strung out for propriety.

"Ms. Stackhouse?" I all but gasped.

"Eric? Dear boy, what's the matter? I thought you were out winning a championship-"

I cut her off as Dr. Reynolds wiped blood from my unconcious girlfriend's face. "Sookie has had an seizure or something. She's bleeding! I took her to the medic here, but I think she needs the hospital."

Adele took a sharp breath. "I'll be there in a jiffy. Actually, if you could call an ambulance for me while i'm on the way-?"

"Of course." I looked back at Sookie's pale face. Her small body began to shake again. "Northman!" Doctor Reynolds yelled, "Hold her feet!"

I ended the call with Adele without a goodbye, and ran towards the bed to help restrain my beloved's wild shaking. Coach Bellfleur burst into the medical room with quivering jowels and a furious snort.

"NORTHMAN! It's the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! We're going to lose the title if you don't get your ASS our there RIGHT NOW!" Andy's face was purple with anger, but I spared him only a glance as I dialed 911.

I shook my head and put the cell to my ear, wiping away a new trickle of blood that dribbled from min Sookie's lips.

"Stackhouse can handle it", I grunted, not taking my eyes off my darling's pale, slack face.

Coach Bellfleur flew off the handle. "NO HE CAN'T! YOU HAVE TO DO THIS!" When the pudgy, sweating man grasped my forearm in an attempt to pull me back onto the field, I growled and swatted him away as easily as a fly. Coach slammed against the beige wall of the medical suite and slid to the spackled linoleoum. I barely spared him a glace as he stood back up on wobbly legs and brushed off his tacky, pleated khakis.

"You'll be expelled for this Northman! There are a dozen scouts out there watching this game! You'll be stranded in this podunk town without an offer in the world if you don't get back on that field!" His voice quivered with rage as he wiped a small splash of blood from his nose.

"I don't care." I turned back to Sookie, whom was hovered over by Dr. Reynolds.

"911 emergency. What is your location?"

Coach stumbled out of the medic office, but I barely noticed. "Bon Temps High Stadium. My girlfriend is bleeding..."

**Gran's POV:**

My heart beat tripled at Eric's call. I packed a bag of things quickly for my ill granddaughter and dashed, as fast as possible to the Nova. I had been hopeful that with the treatments Sookie could be a normal teenager again, but in the back of my mind I knew that something like this was inevitable. Driving as quickly as I could to the high school proved to be more difficult as I rooted around in my purse for the cell phone that Sookie insisted I carry.

It was dangerous and illegal in the state of Louisiana to talk while driving, but I didn't have any choice. After several rings, Jason's phone went to voicemail. I cursed, which was quite unlike me, when I realized that he was probably filling in for Eric at the game. I left a quick message anyway.

"Jason, Sookie's had another episode. I'll fill you in on the details when we get to the hospital, so don't rush, finish the game. Love you."

My next call was to Dr. Compton at Shreveport Community. I had the feeling that the young dark-haired oncologist was secretly in love with my dear Sookie from the way he looked at her, but he was kind and beyond competant... and would do anything in his power to save her life.

The ambulence beat me to the stadium, for which I was thankful, but I was slightly startled when a huge boy in even larger football pads yanked open the passenger door and dove inside the little antique Nova. He buckled himself in before taking a look at my shocked face. The picture of this gigantic boy hunched over in the tiny car would have been comical if not for the sheer terror painted across his handsome features.

"I'm sorry Adele, but can I ride with you? I think I am too upset to drive." Eric looked contrite at my obvious surprise, but the desperation glowing in his eyes was unmistakeable, as was his slightly thickened accent. "Of course, dear boy", I agreed while hastily turning toward the hospital. Frightened as we both were I was pleased that, when he didn't think about it, Eric called me Adele.

When we reached Shreveport Community what we did was a lot of waiting. Eric was collecting a lot of attention in his football uniform, but he didn't seem to notice the hungry stares of the passing nurses or the curiosity of other people in the bland and stoic waiting area. He tapped his foot and stared at his phone, only pausing from whatever he was doing to stare down the hallway that lead to the ER as if he could will my granddaughter to appear every ten seconds or so.

After twenty minutes had passed, I moved my hand to his tapping leg in an attempt to comfort the boy. His leg stilled gradually, his shoulders sagged, and a drop of wetness fell on the back of my weathered hand as he continued to stare at his cell phone.

I craned my neck to look up at him to offer more comfort... and the pain on his face looked like a man in agony as he stared at his device. Without further warning, he trained his blurry blue eyes down on mine and whispered:

"Leukemia?"

_Sheppard of Judea!_ Either these "smart phones" are the best gift to mankind or the work of the devil! Sorcerer's invented them, at the very least! Eric was pleading with me silently, as if I would tell him something... _anything_ else...

I nodded slowly. His normally tan face drained of color and those piercing eyes went wild like a man set on fire. The undoubtedly expensive phone fell from his slack fingertips and clattered to the thin, industrial carpet. The proud and strong man my darling Sookie had fallen in love with was gone as he hung his head between his knees. I reached around his shoulders. Even through all the padding, I could feel his shoulders shaking.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: ***Whoops* I guess this will be five or six chapters now, plus an epilogue. Infinite thanks to my beta, friend, and sister from another mister **stephie8869** for not only putting up with my crap, but also for making my misspelled junk into something presentable!

**If I Die Young Ch 4**

"_**I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom.**_

_**I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger."**_

**Eric's POV:**

"Here, man." I barely looked up in time to catch the duffel bag that Jason Stackhouse tossed at me as he trudged into the dismal waiting room of Shereveport Community. Apparently Mrs. Stackhouse had asked him to pick up some extra clothes for me on his way to the hospital along with my BTH Football duffel bag. Honestly the pads and uniform I was still wearing were the farthest things from my mind, but when presented with street clothes, I started to notice the extra weight on shoulders that were already bearing a heavy load.

I nodded in absent thanks at both the elderly woman and my teammate before heading off to the nearest bathroom to change. Unfortunately my locker had been closed so the clothes were not my own, but Jason's basketball shorts and oversized varsity sweatshirt were long enough. The pair of black nike sandals were far too small, but they beat the fuck out of cleats. The outfit was most likely ridiculous, but I cared very little about my fashion sense right then.

My duffel refused to close around the huge shoulder pads, so I simply carried the fucker back to the sitting area gaping open and plopped it on the undoubtedly nasty carpet. My jersey, socks and pads flopping messily out of the top of the black ballistic nylon.

Adele and Jason were talking in hushed tones that I didn't register. My head went back to hanging in my hands as I felt the seconds, minutes and hours tick by...

People came and people left displaying the gamut of human emotion on their faces. Vending machines pinged and coffee makers whirred as tired nurses and loved ones sought sustenance. Beeps and buzzes, squeaky wheelchairs and quiet coughs, buoyant smiles and choked sobs were the soundtrack of my own personal hell.

Jason's twangy accent interrupted the melancholy atmosphere, his voice scratchy from disuse.

"Dude, thought you should know that we won. Coach kept me 'cause he didn't trust Fortenberry, but Laff's 45 yard FG was what got it for us. I played for shit, lobbed two picks like a goddamn Frosh. Prolly be switched to third string QB for that..." I could sense that Sookie's brother was just trying to calm himself, and me, with this idle chit chat. This afternoon, winning the championship would've been fucking golden... but now, neither of us really gave a shit. It was obvious that Adele didn't care either, as she didn't so much as bat an eyelash at her grandson's vulgar language.

I gave Sookie's brother a small nod before the blanket of silence resumed it's smothering presence. The three of us stared at tacky prints in plastic frames and clutched the occasional styrofoam cup of terrible dish-water coffee.

The sun had risen in the overcast and dreary morning sky when Sookie was finally allowed visitors. A short, weary looking nurse draped in a set of loud floral-print scrubs came around the corner. Jason and I shot up immediately. In my own dazed and desperate world, I heard Adele stop Jason.

"Let him go first, Jason. One more second and I think that boy will need his own room in here."

I jogged after the nurse without looking back.

**Sookie's POV:**

When my eyes opened I felt like a ton of bricks had hit me. I ached all over, and there were tubes and wires galore. _The hospital again... Lord, I hate this place._

Bits and pieces of the previous night came back to me slowly, and I flushed with embarassment. Had I really bled and had a seizure in the middle of the stadium? In front of everyone? Now everyone was going to think I was crazy. I shut my eyes again.

A gentle, warm hand brushed my shoulder. Careful. Almost reverent. Safe. Loving. _Eric._

Sure enough, when I gathered the strength to open my eyes, there he was. The most beautiful man on earth, inches from my face, his glowing sapphire eyes sparkling with unshed tears and a tender smile stretching his gorgeous lips. Without preamble, Eric kissed me softly but with such passion and relief that I felt it in my heart like a lightning bolt. His long arms wrapped around my shoulders as he rubbed his slightly scratchy cheek against my jaw and neck, cuddling me like a love-starved cat.

Despite my tubes and leads, I moved my hands to stroke up and down his wide and powerful back, nuzzling against him in contentment. There were things that had to be said, explained, but for now this was the best medicine I could have ever asked for. Eric's lips peppered my neck and cheek, eyes nose and mouth with lingering, butterfly-light kisses, before travelling back to my ear. His warm breath fanned across my cold skin, tingling like a banked fire of flickering embers...

His palms slid up from my shoulders to cup my face as his lips brushed the hair at my temple. Then my Eric whispered: "Marry me, Sookie."

Clear as day, I understood that he knew... and he loved me just the same. There were things still to be said, but at that moment I was not resigned Sookie. I was not sick Sookie. I was not a girl in a hospital bed. I was just Sookie, a young woman with hope for the future and love in her heart. That Sookie, the best part of me, pressed her dry lips to her man's scruffy jaw as he rested his chiseled cheek on her damp forehead.

"Yes."

"_**I've never known the loving of a man**_

_**But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand."**_

**Eric's POV:**

It may have been on short notice, but Adele and my mother arranged the wedding within the week, and the grove beside the lake was truly beautiful. I wore a stifling suit, but my mother and sister promised me that I looked handsome. Lilies, hygdrangeas, and bouquets of white roses were hung from the branches of our willow tree, and I marveled at the swift preparations my mama had made.

Once the ten or so people were seated in their white wooden chairs, Johanna played song after song on her harp. Her delicate music was aided by the chirps and croaks of the frogs and crickets, and the sparrows sang in the trees when Sookie finally appeared around a thick copse of bushes, on the arm of her grandmother.

The sun was setting while pink and orange rays of light were glinting off my love's pristine white gown. The dress was simple; a sweeping skirt of swishing white satin moved with her shapely legs, and the bodice was mockingly modest: sheer up to her collar bone ending in a wide boat neck, but only solid below, with an underlying layer of white sweetheart satin. She was wearing a weaved crown of wildflowers and no veil. Every sort of flower I had brought to Sookie on our first date was twined in her spiral curls.

My breath caught. She was beyond stunning. All the things she wore, and the things she did, every gesture she made and every incandescent smile she bestowed... they were all about to be mine.

"Jag alskare dig, min vackra." I gazed down at her glowing face, lit by the swaying tendrils of leaves hanging off our tree.

Her small porcelain face looked up at me, eyes shining. Sookie's fingers lightly stroked my new wedding band.

"I love you, too." The beauty of her smile was astounding... and then she kissed me. I forgot the world, forgot her illness, forgot everything with the touch of her lips.

The small gathering of guests and well wishers were gone as my beautiful wife and I walked slowly by the moonlit bank of the still and glittering lake. It had been a long day for Sookie, and despite the fact that I wanted her more than my next breath, her glowing blue eyes were tired. Her steps shortened and slowed as we drew near our willow tree once again, and I urged her to relax beneath it's branches.

"Sit, my love. I'll be right back." I was thankful that Adele had brought a throw to wrap around her shoulders during the ceremony and had left the soft cable knit blanket folded neatly on the seat she had occupied. _Forgotten or left for this purpose_? I wondered. Knowing what I did of the wily old lady, I would bet on the latter.

I spread out the blanket beneath the tree and plucked Sookie off the grass to sit her on it instead. Curls fanning in the slight breeze, my wife giggled with happy playfulness when I sprawled out beside her.

Staring. Staring. I couldn't look away from her face, so perfect and porcelain underneath the starry sky. Sookie's cheeks and lips were pink like rose petals, and her skin was as soft and pale as a magnolia under my fingertips. She leaned her cheek into my palm and closed her eyes on a wistful sigh.

"What are you starin' at, Mr. Northman?"

My thumb brushed lightly over her cheekbones and straight, dainty nose. "My wife." Pure joy was shining in her eyes when she opened them to stare right back.

"That's Mrs. Northman to you, mister."

"Damn straight it is."

Sookie's joy, her heart, her soul commanded me, compelled me and owned me. If she told me that we were joining the circus in the morning to spend our lives as manure-shovelers I would have agreed and honestly feel like there was no better idea in history. She could ask me to cut off an arm to use as a walking stick. She could ask me to –

"Kiss me, my husband." She breathed the words as though I would, or even could, deny her anything in the world… least of all this. I rolled over, propping my torso up with an elbow so as not to crush her small body with my big one, and kissed her bare shoulder. Her silky skin tasted like sunshine and raspberries and each gentle press of my mouth stoked a fire in my chest. The thin lace strap of her wedding dress stopped my advance, so I pushed it slowly off of her shoulder to kiss along her clavicle and up the arch of her throat. Sookie's head was thrown back against the blanket as I got bolder, sucking and licking her neck and jaw. Little mews of pleasure escaped her petal lips. Her hand was wrapped around my back, little fingers clenching and restlessly tugging at the fine fabric of my suit jacket. I removed the offending garment without missing a beat, and Sookie's fingers found the hem of my shirt and swept under it to feel my bare back just as our mouths met.

If my wife's skin was delicious, it had nothing on her lips. It wasn't long before we both needed more. Mouths slanted and my hands wrapped in the shining curls of her hair, my tongue set a steady, instinctual rhythm of thrust and retreat, mimicking what the friction our lower bodies were desperate for.

With surprising strength, Sookie yanked hard on a belt loop to pull my hips between her legs. The dress was once again in the way. Sookie passionately kissed my cheeks and ear as I dragged the white material up her legs and thighs. Breathing hard, she returned the favor by pulling off my tie and tossing it God only knew where, and yanking the dress shirt up and over my head. Her lips travelled across my chest, licking, sucking, and gently nipping while I hovered above her, lost to anything that existed except her.

"Eric, oh Eric", Sookie gasped against my shivering skin. "Are you cold baby?"

"I am definitely not cold, lover."

"Then why are you shaking?" She asked, her hands lovingly stroking my face.

The look in her eyes was that of an angel – my angel. Sookie's beauty in the speckled moonlight shining through the leaves above caused my breath to hitch. "I'm shaking because I love you, Sookie, and because I want you more than anything."

A trick of the light made it seem as though her eyes grew misty. She pulled me down for another kiss and whispered against my lips: "Please."

Robbed of speech, my hands slid back down to the rumpled hem of her dress and pulled gently. Sookie lifted her hips and then her shoulders to allow the heavy fabric free, and when I pulled it over her head, she looked at me with pure trust and adoration. It was I who was struck with the most adoration; my wife's body was all lean and toned limbs and swelling, rounded curves all begging for my hands and mouth. The wedding dress had obviously been substantial enough to not require much lingerie, and her naked body was… there are no words.

That night I showed her how much I loved her. Every touch and kiss, word and caress was as sacred to me as a prayer, and when those prayers turned to mush and nonsense, moans and intelligible whispers, they meant all the more.

I rested that night on a blanket beneath the starry sky with my darling Sookie. Silver moonlight flashed like faint fireflies across her sleeping face, and I carefully drew her discarded wedding dress over our naked bodies. A white petal flew in the breeze and landed gently on her nose, which I plucked up before kissing her forehead. Then, with the night creatures chirping, I pulled my wife close and fell asleep.

**1 Week Later**

**Adele's POV:**

Toting an armful of groceries, I knocked briskly on the whitewashed wood that bordered the screen door of my granddaughter and her new husband's little cottage. Loud music was blaring, echoing out of the open doors and windows of the neat little home and across the quaint lakeside meadow that served as their yard.

"KIDS!" I yelled loudly, pulling open the screen door cautiously. Lord knew what newlyweds got up to at all hours of the day and night, and believe it or not, little old ladies knew better than most. My entrance into the box-filled foyer was purposefully noisy as I managed to lumber about and kick baseboards with my heavy load. I even added some throaty, tone-deaf singing for good measure before I rounded the corner into the small, airy kitchen. Luckily I didn't encounter any naked teenagers by the time I set the hefty bags on the worn dining table.

A yell sounded from the screen door. "Is it safe in there, Adele?" Aude was waiting outside with her own load of bags.

"Not sure yet, but there's no hanky panky between the door and the kitchen", I hollered back. Eric's mother was inside in a flash, setting down more of our haul.

"Where are they?" She asked, sweeping a slightly damp bit of hair out of her eyes. I shrugged just as a bustle and series of shrieks came from upstairs. Pounding footsteps echoed toward the foyer, followed by Sookie shouting: "Aaaack! ERIC!" A muffled thud hit the area rug, and against my better judgment I went to see what was happening without covering my eyes first.

Turns out, the scene I encountered would be one of the happiest memories of my long life.

Eric and Sookie, both dressed in white coveralls, were wrestling on the floor and splattered with blue and white paint. Brandishing dripping brushes, my grandson in law was in the process of painting a blue heart across Sookie's chest, but with her writhing and giggling the majority of the blue ended up on her flushed cheeks and hair. Eric was likewise covered with paint like a muscled Jackson Pollack painting. White streaks and dots swept his arms, neck and face in the exact shape of my granddaughter's sodden brush.

Aude and I watched with glee as the fight became a stalemate with each holding the other's weapon at bay, but when the episode evolved into a kissing match we hastily turned away.

I cleared my throat. "Having fun?"

A muffled squeak and a laugh later, the kids were standing and looking somewhat contrite. At least Sookie was; Eric wore a satified expression.

"Hello mama, Adele", Eric greeted politely with lips that were smeared sky blue. Sookie jumped in, her complexion a healthy shade of pink. "Thank you so much. Are there more things to carry?"

I quenched the urge to ask Sookie if she had been consorting with a Smurf, and instead pointed towards the front door. As the kids went happily outside in the muggy Louisiana sunshine to gather the remaining groceries, Aude and I giggled at the pair of blue and white hand prints painted on both of their overall'd butts.

**Eric's POV:**

Life couldn't be better. I'd married the love of my life, graduation was just around the corner, and the small diamond I'd worked so hard to purchase was burning a hole in my pocket. Technically the diamond had been my grandmother's, but the white gold band I had it set in was the product of countless shifts as busboy at the local bar, an effort which I kept on the down low.

Today was the day. Covered in paint in the swampy, muggy sunshine, I was going to give my wife a ring she could be proud of. Unable to keep my hands to myself, I gently pushed Sookie up against her Gran's yellow Nova and kissed her soft blue lips. I thanked the gods for water based paint as I reached into the pocket of my messy overalls for the blue velvet box.

Sookie giggled and smiled against my mouth, construing my wandering hand for something more lewd than it was. "Not now, baby! Gran and mama are just inside!" I chuckled and pulled away to agree when an odd look drained the color from her cheeks. Without another word, Sookie bent over coughing. She folded and her chest convulsed, all levity forgotten. This wasn't a normal cough, it was a bone shaking series of hacks that wracked her entire, tiny body. The ring box could wait. I reached for her as she trembled.

"I'm fine, baby", Sookie wheezed. When she straighted up there was a river of blood flowing from her mouth and nose, and her hands were splattered with inky red.

She noticed the blood and blanched. "I'm so sorry, Eric."

"No, please min alskare, don't be. How can I help you?"

She rubbed smears of blood across her beautiful, dripping face. "A tissue or twelve would be fantastic, honey."

I sprinted inside to the nearest bathroom.

**Yo - **Funny beta notes and graphic citrus just don't fit with this one, if ya feel me, but there's plenty of that in Steph and my other stories if you need a lil' pick me up :)

*hugs*


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **It's almost too beautiful of a day out to post this... almost.

**WARNING: **Probably isn't a good idea to read this one at work. For serial.

**_"Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother_**

**_She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors..."_**

**6 Months Later**

It was touch and go for a few days, but after Sookie got her strength back the doctor's decided to attack her illness with agressive vigor.

Yes, it made her sicker for a while. My wife lost her beautiful blonde hair and wasted away until she looked like a skeleton, complete with hollow eyes and protruding bones. But eventually... she started to look a little bit better, to feel a little bit better. Inch by inch, minute by minute, she slept less and spoke more. Her smiles got brighter, and her skin grew a little less pallid. Six months went by with me always sitting or laying right by her side, and finally one lovely morning, I awoke to see Sookie gazing happily out the window at a pair or birds hopping brightly on a tree branch.

"Good morning, baby." She said, turning away from the window when she felt me stir.

"Morning, my gorgeous wife. How are you feeling today?" I felt like an ass for sleeping longer than she had, and I jumped off the tiny bed to grab the bucket she needed to throw up in almost every morning, and both a wet and dry towel. The wet one to cool her usually sweating forehead, and the dry one to clean her up after she was sick.

"I feel... great, actually." Sookie straightened the pink patterned scarf that was wrapped around her head. It was a good sign – I normally did that for her – but continued to wait with the plastic bucket. After a few minutes with no sign of impending nausea, she looked at me and giggled. It sounded stronger than it had for a very long time, and was music to my ears.

"Oh really Eric, put that down. No vomiting for me today. I actually feel... hungry." That was wonderfully bizarre. In the entire extended time my wife had been in this damn hospital she hadn't once expressed a desire to eat. Food was always forced upon her, at times intravienously, and sometimes looking at the quality of her meals I didn't blame her... and now she's HUNGRY!

I was so stunned that I dashed out into the hall like her life depended upon the immediate arrival of lukewarm scrambled eggs and dry, tasteless bacon. Flagging down the closest nurse, a kind, somewhat snarky woman I'd come to know as Pam (or Pammy – she hated when I called her that, so of course I did it all the time), I nearly yelled:

"She's HUNGRY! She needs food, NOW!"

Nurse Pam's eyes went wide, both at my sudden frantic appearance and the information. A quick snap of her polished fingers brought an orderly to her side in an instant with the fear of her wrath in his pale eyes. Looking at Pam's ferocious face, it just might have been a valid concern.

"Go grab a breakfast tray with double portions. Quickly, you moron!" The boy ran to the elevator like the hounds of hell were nipping at his ridiculous teal Crocs.

"Alright, calm down Eric. Let's go see her." Nurse Pam put a hand on my shoulder to slow me down, but I noticed that she was walking quite a bit faster than her normal cocky saunter. When we walked through the door Sookie looked even better than she had minutes ago. Her cheeks were a little bit pink, and she was sitting up higher in the adjustable bed than usual.

"Hey Pammy." Sookie smiled at the fierce nurse. She'd picked up the habit of purposefully annoying Pam from me weeks ago.

Nurse Pam attempted a scoff, but it was ruined by her optimistic expression. She strutted quickly about the room in her clearly un-regulation-style white stilettos gathering equipment. (I had asked Pam about those once, and her snippy reply had been: "The policy demands WHITE shoes, but they didn't specify what kind. It isn't my fault these other bitches can't stand in heels all day and night like I can!")

"Alright, I'm going to take your vitals, Mrs. Northman. How are you feeling?" As Pam put the heart monitor cuff around my wife's thin arm, Sookie gave her a sour look.

"OH COME ON! Pammy, how long have I been in here?"

Pam was focused on her machines and her work. "Six months", she answered quickly without looking up.

"And have I seen you every single day? At least once?" It was true. Nurse Pamela came in even on her off days to check on Sookie, because "none of these fucking idiots actually know what they're doing".

"You have", she said stiffly, jotting down numbers on her chart and not meeting Sookie's eyes.

"Then don't call me 'Mrs. Northman' Pam. You should at the very least call me Sookie, if not Sook."

"Or honeybunch." I added, smirking at the aggravated blonde nurse when she shot me a death glare.

"Fine. How are you feeling today, Sookie-wookum-kins?"

My wife's face lit up with hilarity, and it was a lovely sight. "Excellent, Pammy-whammy-kins! Thank you for askin'."

Pam's perfectly penciled lips twitched. "It is my job to ask, Sookie-snuggle-wuggle."

Sookie actually giggled when Pam stuck a needle in her arm to take a blood sample. I was amazed – Sookie is terrified of needles.

"I know it is, Pammy-bo-bammy, but admit it! You give a crap about lil' ole me!"

Stoic Nurse Pam gave a rare smile which looked very pretty, and quite against her will. "I do, Sookie-nookie-bottom. There, you happy?"

Sookie's giggle sounded like tiny bells. "Quite."

"Good. Then I'll run this sample to the lab and page Dr. Compton, shall I?"

"Please, Pammy-cuddle-cakes", I said smirking at the death look she gave us both as she trotted her shiny heels out of the room. Truly, she acted as though the sterilized and weird-smelling halls of the hospital were her perpetual runway.

When the *click click click* of the stilettos grew fainter, Sookie and I burst into a riotous fit of laughter.

"OH MY GOD that was funny!" My wife was clutching her stomach, doubled over with mirth. From down the hall came an acidic voice:

"I HEARD THAT!" Nurse Pam's yell was like a gunshot.

We laughed even harder.

**Pam's POV:**

I brought Sookie's file to Doctor Compton with a slight spring in my step, if one could construe the lack of my usual aura of distain as a "spring".

The nerdy oncologist was up to his mousy eyebrows in case work in his shabby office, per usual, but he snatched off his dorky horn-rimmed reading glasses when I sauntered in without knocking.

His immediate attention wasn't due to my abrupt entrance (why should I have to fucking knock? Honestly…), nor was it my sexy nurse outfit and white stilletto'd general fuckhotness. Nope, Doc StickUpTheAss was interested in the chart I was holding out.

"Sookie?" I couldn't resist an exaggerated eye roll at the look on his gaunt and lean face. If he were a dog, the good doctor would be practically salivating. Gross as I found Bill's obsession with Mrs. Northman to be, it came in helpful when it came to keeping that little blond ray of sunshine alive.

At my lower moments (we're talking like, a six month dry spell at the earliest) I could almost imagine that Bill could be quite handsome. If you squinted really hard and completely ignored his pleated khakis and disgusting affection for collared polo shirts (and kind of tilted your head sideways… a lot) it wasn't impossible to believe that he might have been hot like, twenty years ago or so.

Doc looked up for a moment. "Why are you squinting and leaning over like that, Pam?"

"Just trying to blur my focus enough to see the butterfly hidden in that collage of shit, Doc."

Bill was about to pull a snotty remark out of his oncologist ass, and I prepped for the lamest comeback known to us socially adjusted people, when the brown caterpillars that live over his dirt-colored eyes crawled together into a unibrow.

"What? Nothing snappy comes to mind?" Not that I'd be surprised…

"Why did you transfer here, Pamela? Did you do it for her?" Scratch that. He definitely surprised me.

"I don't have to explain shit to you, Compton."

"No, you don't." He sighed.

Without another word, Doctor Compton slid the file across his cluttered desk and pointed at a line in Sookie's bloodwork.

"But… but she's doing so well today. She's even eating. I don't understand." My voice trailed away into nothing, because as much as I tried to explain it to myself, I did understand.

Bill pushed back from his desk, paperwork and piles of folders forgotten.

"The calm before the storm." Doc walked out of his office like a man on a particularly dismal mission, leaving me alone to stare at the loathsome chart.

**Eric's POV:**

Sookie laid sweating in her hospital bed, panting.

Things had taken a drastic turn for the worse, and I had no clue how to help her. The doctor had pulled me aside an hour ago, telling me privately that she didn't have much time left. Looking back in at my angel's agonized face... I couldn't help but believe him, even though the reality ripped my heart in half.

Doctor Compton and Nurse Ravenscroft wore identical expressions of pain and regret. Bill's eyes were downcast, his brow furrowed, like a man who had fought his hardest against fate only to lose. Pam's normally stiff and elegant posture was hunched, and her perfectly styled hair hung dull and lank about her sagging, pale shoulders. If anything could convince me that today was the day, it was the utter defeat expressed by my wife's most fervent champions... the two who loved her nearly as much as I, who would do anything to save her.

Neither tried to touch me in comfort or say anything more while I gathered the last of my strength. The only thing I could think to do for my Sookie was to take her away from this dreary four walls she had been trapped in for so long. Standing tall, I shot a pointed glance at Sookie's room, then to the door to the bright parking lot outside. Pam was quickest to understand. Her pretty head nodded slightly before she pointedly turned her back, tugging Compton away down the sterile hallway by his bony elbow.

"Would you like to be somewhere else, min alskare?"

"Yes please", she whispered and nodded slightly. "The lake."

"Done." I pulled every tube and wire from Sookie's body and carried her out of the hospital, blankets and all, taking care to avoid the nurses and doctors as much as possible. It wasn't difficult as everyone seemed very busy.

My darling's blue eyes fluttered shut as I snuck her out of the side entrance right next to my shiny corvette. I shifted her over my shoulder to lean down and unlock the passenger door and set her inside as gently as possible, careful to keep her shivering body tightly wrapped in the blankets. I buckled her in before dashing over to driver's side.

The speed limit wasn't merely broken, it was completely shattered as my car shot like a red bullet to the spot where I first kissed min Sookie. She coughed weakly into a red-tinted hankerchief as my tires skid to a stop right below the same willow tree, and I barely remembered to shut off the engine before rushing to her side. I lifted her carefully again to the shady green grass below the tree, and sat with her in my lap as the sun was setting.

Sweeping a tangled lock of hair off her pale face, I whispered "Look, my love. We're here." Sookie opened her eyes at last and gazed at the still, clear water of the quiet lake. Dappled sunlight filtered green through the swaying leaves, casting colors across her porcelin skin like a kalideascope.

"So beautiful", she said with a tiny, content smile.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you."

Sookie giggled, the sound tinkling like wounded, cracked bells. "Liar. I must look like a ghost."

Although she found humor in her statement, I felt a lump in my throat the size of a baseball that was impossible to swallow around. "No", I croaked, "you look like my girl, and my girl is the most beautiful girl in the world."

After a long blink, her pale lips stretched into a wider smile. "I am your girl. Always have been."

"Always will be", I whispered fervently.

The sun was low in the orange and red sky. Puffy clouds were tinged with pink, and the light breeze was warm. Crickets and other night creatures began to awaken and chirp, like a chorus singing just for us.

"Kiss me, Eric." She asked quietly. And I did. My warm lips moulded softly against her cold mouth and I breathed into her, as though I could give her my life with my breath.

Her eyes were still closed when our lips parted. "I love you so much."

I realized I was crying when a drop of shiny wetness fell on her smooth face. "I love you, min vackra guidanna. My lover, my Sookie."

"Tell Gran and Jas that I love them too, okay?"

"You can tell them yourself, min guidanna. You're not leaving me yet." Sookie opened her glowing blue eyes and smiled at me again. She brought her small, fragile hand up to touch my cheek...

"I'm afriad that I am." The sun set in a blaze of glory, and I shook her as the light I adored left her eyes. Her hand fell gracefully into her lap.

"Sookie? Sookie?" I kissed her slack lips praying for them to move... but her windows of breath were still. I knew she was gone, but I just couldn't process such a tragedy. I hugged her tiny body tightly in my shaking arms, not at all ashamed to cry.

"_**A penny for my thoughts?**_

_**Oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar.**_

_**They're worth so much more after I'm a goner."**_

**3 Days Later**

**Eric's POV:**

I sat silently in the corner of a roomfull of somber people in a stifiling black suit. My tie seemed so tight it was choking me, but I refused to losen it – Sookie had given it to me for my birthday. Besides, it wasn't the tie's fault that I felt so trapped and hopeless. The images that filled my head would haunt me forever. This whole day would haunt me forever. I had just leaned over to rest my forhead on my forearms, when I felt a light hand fall on my shoulder.

"Eric?" Adele smiled kindly at me when I finally looked up. How she had the strength, I might never know. "Come, son. There is something you should have."

Sookie's Gran led me through the throng of people, holding my hand as her graddaughter had once done the day I met her. The thought made my eyes misty, and I struggled to keep them from spilling over as she led me up the staircase of the old farmhouse. When I regained enough of my wits to realize where I was being led, I resisted on instinct. I couldn't go in there, not in that room...

"Oh, come son. If I can do it then so can you." With that, I let myself be pulled into my Sookie's bedroom.

Everything was almost exactly as I remembered, minus all the medical equiptment that had been quite at odds with the decor in the last few months of her life. The room was light and airy, everything lacy and pretty, white and pink. Antique perfume bottles sat beside rinestone decorated picture frames full of photos of happy teenagers on hand-crocheted table cloths. A small flat screen tv sat on a spindle-legged side table. Band posters were pinned next to heirloom curtains that fluttered in the spring breeze. A big stuffed teddy bear I had won for her was perched happily in an old rocking chair...

I took a deep breath to calm myself, and the action had the opposite effect. Everything smelled like her, and I was assaulted by the scents of the sunlight and her skin... her hair. Choking, a strangled sob burst from my lips.

"Here, here, son." Adele led me to sit on the bed. It was probably the worst spot to sit on, but I didn't have the strength to leave. Honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to leave this room ever again. Adele rifled through one of Sookie's dresser drawers and produced a cloth handkerchief and pressed it into my hands. I almost smiled at the guesture. _Only in this family would they have actual hankerchiefs._ It wasn't quite manly, but I used it the square of emboridered linen rub my eyes and stuffed it in my pants pocket.

After the initial shock, it wasn't so bad being in Sookie's room. Everything in there was so happy and bright, just because she had lived. More than half of the photos framed on every surface was of me and her. At the fair, at the prom, at the lake, camping, kissing, dancing... for just a moment, I smiled.

"That's it, it's alright." Gran rifled around more in Sookie's dresser and produced a small book bound with lime green leather. The old lady's pale blue eyes watered for the first time in hours as she looked at the cover before holding it out to me.

"Here, dear. She would've wanted you to have this." I took the book with a surprisingly steady hand. Engraved into the green leather were the words "Sookie Stackhouse 2011". I didn't know what to say.

"Thank you, Adele."

"Hush now. You call me Gran, young man." Her stern look was spoiled by the glint of emotion in her eyes.

"Thank you, Gran", I amended while absently stroking the journal.

"You're welcome, son. Stay as long as you'd like." With that she backed out of the bedroom and shut the white, weathered door behind her. I took a few minutes to walk around Sookie's room, touching her things, smelling her perfumes, looking out of her windows, and imaging her doing the same, before I had the strength to sit back down and open the thin book...

_September 6th, 2010_

_Dear Journal,_

_I met the most amazing boy today! It was the first day of school, and I insisted upon going. I've been feeling rather well lately, and I'm so happy that I did. Right in the parking lot I saw this absolutely beautiful guy. Even across the lot I could see his blond hair and glowing blue eyes, and LORDY is he tall! I knew I'd never met anyone that looked like him before, so he just had to be the new student Jason was all upset about. Eric... ah, just thinking his name makes me smile like a kid on Christmas mornin'..._

I read and read and read until late in the evening and everyone had left. Gran was true to her word and never disturbed me or suggested that I leave. I had discarded my jacket and shoes hours ago to lay back on Sookie's bed, reading her thoughts, and fell asleep while somehow smiling and laughing at her antics, even in print.

The tie stayed on, though.

**Yo: ***chirping crickets* *hears last remaining readers cry "FUCK THIS!" and close laptops*

Remember what I said loves? About that HEA? It's coming, I pinky swear… *Eric leans in and whispers* "trust me."

*crawls into missile-proof bunker and braces for hate mail*

**From Steph: ***looks around at the people tapping their feet* Don't you give me that look! She asked me if I thought she should live or die… my answer was do what you want to do, but you noticed the but correct… she does always seem to live so you can be different.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **I smooshed the last chapter and the epilogue together, so this is it. Thank you so much to those who stuck through this one :). I should've invested in Kleenex first. I can't appreciate those who trust my HEA(ish?) promise enough, and hope it fixes a bit of the sadness.

On with it.

**If I Die Young Ch 6**

"_**I've had just enough time.**_

_**So put on your best, boys and I'll wear my pearls.**_

_**What I never did is done."**_

**1 Year Later**

**Eric's POV:**

The roses were perfect. Pink and orange had been her favorite. Adele's weathered hand clutched the crook of my arm on this beautiful spring day. Jason trailed a few steps behind us wearing a rather wrinkled blue suit. Honestly I was surprised he came at all, let alone go to the effort of dressing up.

We stopped about ten feet away from the granite stone, but that was more my doing than Adele's. She patted my arm fondly and continued forward to lay her own boquet of fresh dasies on the grass.

"Love you, darlin'. You know we miss you every day." Sookie's Gran had a tear in her eye when she backed away from the grave. Jason hastily plucked a small bunch of bright yellow wild flowers from a nearby bush and came forward to lay them at the foot of the headstone.

"You were wonderful, baby sis. Love you and miss you to death... er, I mean a lot. You know what I mean..."

Gran somehow managed to quietly laugh in a joyful and somber manner at the same time. "She knows, Jason." The elderly lady noticed that I was hanging back, still clutching the big boquet and staring at the grave. I didn't want to cry in front of her family, or say what I wanted to say within earshot. I didn't know what to do, or even if I could move another step.

"Come on, Jason. There's fried chicken waiting on the kitchen counter and we don't want it to get cold."

"Oh, fried chicken! Are there biscuits, Gran?" Jason asked as he was manuvered away.

"Certainly, dear boy."

I gave Adele a grateful look which she returned as she ushered Jason towards the house.

It took me several minutes to approach the grave marker even after Gran had left the cemetary to walk back home. When I finally stood before it, the epitaph carved into the granite captivated me in its simplicity. How so few words could represent the life of the woman who was the entire world to me seemed unfair.

SOOKIE NORTHMAN

July 1, 1993 – November 21, 2011

_Beloved wife, sister, and granddaughter, _

_who was taken far too soon_

_to become the loveliest angel in God's Kingdom._

So few words...

All of it was unfair. Every bit of it. I felt like screaming as I placed the bunch of roses on the grass and sank to my knees.

"Min alskare, I miss you", I whispered as tears rolled down my face. I didn't bother brushing them away; they would be replaced in an instant. Trying desperately to feel like I was speaking to her and not a souless piece of rock, I continued. "I got into Dartmouth baby. Football scholarship. It's a full ride, and there was even a bit of a fight between schools about which I would go to." I chuckled mirthlessly and traced the etched letters of her name in the shiny stone.

"You would've liked it there, min alskarina. The trees are deep green and the buildings are all brick, warmed by the sunshine. After college I would have taken you to Orland. It's rainy and cold most months, but we would have gone in summer when the sky was bright and the days were long. I'd have had you barefoot and pregnant, waddling around the kitchen and cursing my name within a year."

I stopped to swallow, gazing at her name and gathering my thoughts... for my wife.

"Did I ever tell you what I thought the first time I met you, Sookie? I thought you were an angel. You were too beautiful and too kind to belong on earth. I had trouble with my english back then, but I was glad for it when I told you I loved you when you were dragging me to the school's admin office. So you see, I loved you the very day I met you... I loved you every second afterward, just as I love you now." I gently touched the dewy soft grass beneath my knees.

"... Please... wait for me, ja? I'm going to live for a while, but when I see you again min alskare, I'll have you sated and smiling for eternity."

A warm gust of wind blew on an otherwise still day, and the air carried a white petal blown from the old magnolia tree hanging above my Sookie's resting place. The elegant petal fluttered, danced and spun in the sudden breeze, and landed lightly on the top of the outstretched hand that was still touching the grass. A pair of brightly colored birds were hopping on the branches of the tree.

I looked at the petal and smiled. Rising to my feet, I shed a last, oddly happy tear at the gallavanting finches, and turned away. I placed a kiss on the petal before putting it in my pocket, and left the Bon Temps cemetary, never to return again.

My darling wife wasn't there. She never was. Her body was wrapped in pink satin on a bed of roses below that little patch of grass, but her soul was in a much better place. Sookie was busy lighting up heaven, happy and healthy, wearing the angelic innocent smile that always robbed me of speech. It might take several decades, but I would see my angel again... and that would be a wonderful day.

**Epilogue**

"_**Gather up your tears and keep 'em in your pocket**_

_**Save them for a time when you're really gonna' need 'em"**_

**Eighty Years Later**

**Eric's POV:**

I was doing well enough for a 99 year old man. It was still simple to walk around in the year 2091, and easy to feel calm, confidant and strong throughout my waning health. My decline was expected even in this day and age of medical miracles, and despite my metal parts and slew of pills, I was nearing the end.

Pamela had passed 24 years ago, but she certainly went kicking and screaming. Aging didn't suit my second wife much. Pam couldn't understand what was happening to her skin, to her body, or why her beauty wasn't revered as it had once been. I had married her in 2019, long after Sookie's passing, but Pamela always knew that she didn't have all of my heart… a dead woman did.

Maybe I married her out of spite, which was cruel of me, but we did have good times together. Pam had been Sookie's nurse in the last months of her life, and she brought me comfort and understanding after her death. Perhaps it was selfish, but my heart was in so much pain that it craved anyone who… _knew_ what had happened to my love, and Pam was quite willing. She followed me to Dartmouth and shared my apartment while working for a local family practice. After three years, I appreciated her support so damned much that I proposed, and she readily accepted.

But I never loved her as she loved me… and Pamela knew it. My lack of affection was a frequent source of ammunition in verbal battle.

**Flashback, 2032**

"_Why did you even marry me, Eric? I'm not HER!" She snarled for the umpteenth time._

"_I know you aren't, believe me." I tried to ignore her fierce expression and wild, tangled hair that seemed to sizzle with the electricity of her ire._

"_Then what the FUCK are we doing here, exactly? You don't love me!" Pamela slammed a sizzling skillet against the gourmet stove in a childish attempt to make me look at her._

_I sighed, turning away from my laptop which I had brought to the kitchen table. A picture of Sookie was open on the screen, her beautiful face lit up as she smiled at me. "I do love you."_

_Furious tears smudged her thick black mascara as Pam huffed in frustration. I briefly wondered if she was born with that shit on – I never once saw her applying it, but her makeup was constant. "But you can barely stand to LOOK at me! You aren't IN love with me, are you? You never were!" My wife looked about to throw hot eggs in my face, so I picked up the gauntlet, reluctantly. I strode toward her and took the spoon from her hand and shut off the stove's burner before turning to loom over her slight, pale form._

"_I'm sorry Pam, but you're right. I never was in love with you. That doesn't mean that I don't care for you, it's simply different."_

"_FUCK THAT! And FUCK YOU Eric Northman!" Pam pointed at the screen of my computer, scoffing. "You think you can just replace your beloved Sookie with the nearest available woman?"_

_My voice grew deadly cold as I tried to restrain my easy temper. "Don't you dare mention Sookie ever again."_

_A cruel glint of satisfaction shined on her venomous features. "Why not? Sookie doesn't give a shit. She's dead, Eric! Dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead DEAD!"_

_Red. My sight was completely tinged with a crimson, violent fury. "YOU BITCH! I WARNED YOU!" I lurched toward Pam, intending to strangle the life right out of her, but I just couldn't. Aside from it being horribly wrong, and despite what I said, I loved her too damn much. My fingers clenched around Pam's throat as my second wife looked up with resigned rage. Her chest heaved with furious, stilted breaths, and I released my light warning grip on her throat immediately. Angry, yes, but an abuser I was not. How did she manage to turn me into this monster?_

_Panting, I backed away. "I'm moving to Orland. I may love you, Pamela, but not in the way a husband should love his wife. I will not continue to disappoint you. Please tell me if you would like to remain here, or if you would prefer any of my other houses."_

_Pam lightly rubbed her neck, and shot me a look with a horrible glint in her icy blue eyes. "Really? Any of them? OH, the luck! Shall I take the villa in Antigua? Or perhaps the flat in Paris? I could easily see myself enjoying those."_

_I ran my finger through my hair, roughly. "They are yours to choose from, you miserable harpy."_

"_OH! A harpy, am I? Being the harpy that I am, I choose all of them!"_

_I swallowed with difficulty. "You can't have all of them, just one."_

"_Who says?" Pam's pretty pink lips snapped._

"_ME! I SAY! I AM YOUR HUSBAND!"_

_Pam fell to her knees, sarcastically supplicant. The lacy fabric of her designer silk dressing gown pooled on the marble floor as she bent her head to the tile. "Forgive me, Master! I forgot my place, my lord. Please allow me to right my indiscretions." _

_It took several minutes before I could restrain the urge to throttle my own damn wife (AGAIN), and even more until my temper calmed to a slow, roiling boil. Without my conscious approval, a deep growl rumbled in my chest. Apparently that noise was her cue._

"_I didn't mean to upset you, Eric." Pam stood and actually appeared moderately contrite, her dainty fingers held steady. Somehow she always knew just how far I could be pushed, and exactly when to stop. Her sporadically vengeful personality has perfected the nuance of my emotions to the exact precipice of my endurance for pain and the plummet into actual fury._

"Yes you did." I clipped, slamming the egg-covered wooden spoon against the iron pan.

_She huffed, the illusion of repentance falling from her features like a veil. "Alright, yes I did. I got my point across though, didn't I?"_

"_That you did." The admission seemed to please her. Sometimes she favored the oddest things, and always even the smallest of triumphs._

_Pam's, clear cornflower eyes cleared of spite and shined up at me. Waves of gold curled about her neck and shoulders, as though the absence of her electric spite had seeped out through the roots of her hair, leaving it soft and unassuming once more. She may not be my true love, but Pamela was indeed quite stunning. I reached for her, and even as my arms encircled my beautiful wife, I fervently wished for another. Min Sookie._

_After a few moments, Pamela looked up at me. A tiny drip of water rolled down her cheek, creating a rare rivulet in her ever-flawless makeup. "She was quite something, our Sookie."_

_I smiled sadly and nodded. "She was."_

"_Did she love you enough for this?" Pamela cuddled against my chest. I stroked her flowing hair absently._

"_You know she did… but she would've been stronger than I. She would have been stronger than both of us. Weakness wasn't something she was comfortable with. She wouldn't have liked it. You know that, too."_

_Pam kissed my chest. "I do", she said, "but she would have been just as broken."_

"_Perhaps", I sighed heavily, "but now it is a non-issue."_

_The kitchen was quiet for a beat. "I miss her too, you realize. I did my best."_

"_You did. The best anyone could have ever done. She was happy."_

"_Even at the end?"_

"_Yes, even then."_

_Pam absorbed my comment, squeezing my torso, before she pulled away. Her lithe, pale and shapely limbs strutted away from me, her dress shifting in enticing ways. Pamela was still upset, we both were, but she tossed the shining mantle of her glowing hair over her shoulder and gave me a "come hither" smile. Just like that, the switch was flipped._

"_Come, my husband. Bring the spoon; you must want to punish me."_

_Love or no love, a man is still a man. I grabbed a clean spoon and followed._

_That night as I lay in bed, I reached into the furthest back corner of my night table. The object hadn't been removed for many years, but when the lime green leather met my skin, my fingertips warmed. Pamela was sleeping soundly with her eyes covered with one of her ridiculous plastic masks full of frozen purple goo, but I still retrieved the journal as quietly as possible._

_Even after all this time, the covers and pages fell open to my favorite passage._

May 15, 2011

Dear Journal,

Today (or well, yesterday), was the most wonderful day of my life! I married Eric, and it was everything I ever wished for and more…

_A withered magnolia petal was pressed, almost sealed, to the pink ink on the pages, a petal that had floated down upon my hand at her grave, identical to another that had landed lightly on her nose as we slept that special night. The pad on my thumb drifted lightly across the white and I smiled._

_For the first time in many years, I slept well._

**Present Day**

**Eric's POV:**

A fever overtook me, and my unresponsive body shivered in a dreary hospital bed. I was reminded of my Sookie's shaking in her final hours. Her smile was all I could see, even when my weary eyes were wide open. Despite the fantasy vision clouding my eyes, I could hear just fine.

"Is he in pain?" My 60 year old son Johan asked the doctor. "No", a kind voice replied. "We've given your father enough pain medicine that he should be resting peacefully." I wanted to remind my son to not disrespect me by speaking as though I wasn't present, but I did not wish to startle Wilhelmina. My son's wife was fragile, blonde and beautiful, just as my Sookie had been. I didn't want to trouble her with my death.

"Sookie", I whispered, staring at her ghostly face.

"What, father?" Johan pushed the doctor aside when I spoke. Wilhelmina was at his elbow in a heartbeat, hovering like an angel. I didn't know how to say this, but my son had a right to know.

"Your mother was not my true love, Jo. I adored Pamela, but Sookie was and is my only love. She died when I was nineteen. Your mother was her nurse, and when I lost her I married Pamela. She resented me. Your mother always knew I was in love with a dead woman, and not her. It was not her fault, it was mine."

Johan looked stunned and sympathetic at the same time. I continued.

"I see her in my eyes now. My Sookie. She is smiling at me, waiting for me. You would have loved her; she was so beautiful and kind. I saw the light leave her eyes under the shade of a weeping willow."

Johan and Wilhelmina grabbed my hands as my body suddenly seized. "We would have loved her, dad", Wilhelmina smiled with a tear leaking down her pretty young cheek.

Amidst the wispy ether, Sookie reached out to me, her lovely face backlit with white rays of blinding light. _'Come, my love. I have waited long enough.'_

I gasped and jerked as my body tried to go to her. My only ground was the firm hands of my child and his wonderful wife… but I wanted them to let me go to her so desperately.

I gathered the last of my strength and looked at my son's face, a mirror of my own many decades ago. "Johan, Wil? I love you, and my gorgeous grandchildren. You chose well, my son."

Johan, strong man that he was, had tears leaking from eyes that were identical to mine. "You are the best thing I ever achieved, and I will go on knowing that you are happy."

"I love you min fatha."

Wil hugged my shoulders gently and her tears fell on my cheek. "I love you too, min fatha."

I smiled weakly. "Don't be sad, mitt barn, I am on my way to reunite with my love. It will be a wonderful eternity. Bury me beside the grave of Sookie Northman in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Please."

Sookie smiled at me, waving eagerly, and I knew she was bouncing in a white eyelet lace sundress and laughing. "Come on! Come on!" My love giggled.

"Of course, dad." Johan and Wilhelmina held my withered hands tightly, but I couldn't see them. I saw only Sookie.

"I love you dearly", I mumbled distractedly. "I have to go, she's waiting." With that my eyes slid shut and my sight was replaced with a blinding bright light… and a delicate hand reaching out for mine. The stunning white shimmered against a familiar small diamond ring on the hand of…

"Sookie?" I whimpered in awe.

"Yes baby, it's me. Come on. I've missed you so much!" She grabbed my suddenly youthful hand without another moment of hesitation, and I was pulled, ecstatic, into the light. The most beautiful white world met my eyes, and a wave of utter peace enveloped my entire being.

My body looked exactly the same as it had when I was nineteen, and I was draped in the shirt mama bought me in Stockholm and my low-slung jeans. I was astounded, and even more so when Sookie's tiny hand pulled me towards our weeping willow in the glittering mist. A glassy blue serene lake appeared as we sat down on an old, familiar blanket. Sookie's smile eclipsed the setting sun.

My sight devoured her beloved features as I frantically ran my hands over her cheeks, her arms, her waist... Memory had truly not done her loveliness justice. With the strength and passion of many decades past, I kissed her deeply like a desperate man lost in an endless desert and she was a miraculous oasis.

Her warm lips on mine felt like peace and sunshine, and my heart exploded with joy. Nearly speechless, I managed to stop nearly crushing her long enough to mutter against her lips: "Is this forever?"

I reached into my pocket and gently retrieved a delicate magnolia petal. Through the course of my life the petal had withered, dulled and died. Pressed between the pages of my Sookie's words for eighty or so years, the bit of flora had become brittle, but when I pulled it out of my pocket it was fresh and new… exactly like it had been as wept at my wife's grave so long ago.

Sookie was stunned, and her beautiful eyes overflowed with tears. She touched the petal lightly, cradled it gently.

Healthy and ethereal, Sookie held her open palm up and let the temperate breeze carry the petal away, taking our memories of sorrow along with the wind. Her lovely eyes danced with happiness when the weight left our souls, leaving us alone in the lush grassy idyll below our tree. A faint E + S was scratched into the bark, encircled in a lopsided heart.

"Yes my Eric", she whispered. Sookie held my large hand against her chest, directly over her hot and beating heart. "Forever and ever."

Only then did I realize that I truly was in heaven.

**The End**

**Yo: **What could be better than eternity together?

**Yo-Yo: **Infinite thanks and love to** ganoo **(aka Min Cartwheeling Eileen), **storiesforevy **(aka Worship Worthy Genius Junkie), **dazed-rose (**aka Witty to my City, aka Honeycakes), Kleenex boxes the world over, and last (but NEVER EVAR least), my twin syster and beloved beta **stephie8869** (aka Mistress, aka Superwoman, aka Dream House Roomate-o-Fuckawesome, aka Mrs. JF).

To them, and to everyone who read and reviewed - you are the Yo to my Diggity, darlins!

This one wouldn't be complete without an epic thank you to my heroic oncologist **Dr. Yates **(my personal un-douchey Beel), FP **Dr. Warwar **(my dude-Gran with a medical-plan), and my bestie **RN Julie** (my fashion loving nurse Pammy).

Love life, my darlins. It's pretty damn awesome while we've got it!

Now quit reading and go get laid. *viking giggles*

*Heavenly Ever After Hugs*

Shanny/Yo


End file.
